Due to a number of open carry proponents, we are seeing restaurants such as Starbucks, Jack in the Box, Chili's and Chipotle all being forced to make statements on whether customers can open carry firearms in their establishments.

My perspective is that I do not agree with the way Open Carry Texas is going about promoting our Second Amendment rights. What this boils down to is that their actions are not achieving the desired results. We now have more people siding with the anti-gun camp and more establishments are creating anti-gun policies. I support open carry, and it's socially appropriate in certain situations.

Right now your average American is not going to be comfortable seeing a random person with an AK-47 eating a burger next to them out in public. Honestly, I might even be freaked out because a restaurant is not a range where we have Range Safety Officers who can manage safety protocols. I don't know who you are.

My simple message to Open Carry Texas and other groups engaging in similar behavior- please stop and consider the implications of your actions. How have your actions benefited our cause, or put us on a path to more freedom? It's not clear to me how large national restaurant chains issuing anti-gun policies is good for 2A rights.

I don't see how continuing on this path will end with different results. It seems to be a pretty simple formula:

Walk into national food chain open carrying an AK-47/AR-15.

Patrons get scared and contact the management, police, and/or media.

National food chain issues anti-gun policy.

With each new national establishment that sees open carry folks scaring their customers, I do not envision brands welcoming the open carry organizations. Sure, many smaller restaurants and bars are on the other side of the coin and have embraced open carry which is great, but we are talking about large national chains that carry much more influence.

I'm hopeful that cooler heads will prevail, and open carry proponents will re-evaluate the efficacy of their tactics.